This past season, for instance, my friend's "know where the does are" plan worked very well. During the early stages of the season, he opted to arrow a mature doe, thus helping to manage the herd on the landowner's property and providing his family with venison. When the rut kicked in, the buddy still was concentrating on the whereabouts of does and was able to kill a fine 8-pointer that was trailing an estrous doe.

In the latter stages of the season, my friend saw far more deer than I did, although he did not have the opportunity to kill another broadbeam. He later decided to take another doe toward the end of the season. In short, some of the most successful big-buck hunters are doe hunters first.

KNOW YOUR LOCAL DEER FOODS
Today's Southern deer hunter has more knowledge to glean from than any sportsmen in this region's history. We know far more about the stages of the rut and the life cycles of whitetails, and we have access to more varied and sundry kinds of quality hunting weapons than our ancestors could have ever dreamed of.

Yet, if there is one aspect of deer hunting that our sporting predecessors might still have the edge on us is that they were better woodsmen than many of us are today. Certainly one of the most important aspects of woodsmanship is having a strong background in the various kinds of foods that our local deer consume.

For example, many if not most of us Southerners know that the white oak (Quercus alba) acorn is one of the most preferred deer foods -- if not the most preferred -- in our entire region.

How many of us are aware of the other members of the white oak family that grow in our local woods? And if we are aware of them, how many of us can distinguish the white oak family members' acorns from the nuts of Quercus alba itself? The answer, quite probably, is that not many of us can. The deer can certainly distinguish among the foods available to them, however. They know what they like and will go to that food. Hunters who know the palatability and availability of those deer foods have an obvious advantage.

Additionally, I would wager that most Southern sportsmen are very much aware that whitetails will often turn to the acorns of red oak trees after they have consumed those of the various white oak species. How many of us can identify the red oak varieties that live in our home counties? And even more of a challenge would be for us to learn which red oak family members produce acorns that are most consumed by the deer in our home woods.

The Southern states also produce a dazzling variety of soft-mast foods.

This knowledge of hard- and soft-mast food items is crucial to our knowing what the deer, especially the does, will be eating during the various stages of the rut. If, for example, a hardwood hollow on the property you hunt is devoid of acorns, do you know where the deer in your area will congregate? Will the whitetails be venturing to local soft-mast food sources or will they be going to fields?

If the latter is the case, which fields are the most popular and where do the deer typically enter them? To be sure, these are hard questions, and to answer them we will have to spend a great deal of time learning about our local food sources. This also would be time well spent -- just as I hope that considering these five strategies will be time well spent when the rut begins in our region.